As the semiconductor industry begins its ramp to manufacturing at 10nm and below, activity is heating up involving lithography modeling. The goal is to be ready when all the pieces of the puzzle are in place. That includes EUV, when it finally becomes commercially viable, as well as extending ArF Lithography.Nov 17, 2014

Model-based optical proximity correction (OPC) has been an effective application to help achieve design intent in the lithographic process since the late 1990’s with the introduction of the 180 nanometer (nm) technology nodes, but with continued push of the current ArF immersion imaging hardware into the sub-20nm nodes, traditional OPC modeling approaches are struggling to keep pace. The quality of the OPC results is dependent on the accuracy and predictability of the model, which is heavily reliant on the input metrology data and physicality of the model terms.Nov 13, 2014

It’s hard to imagine a set of applications that need computing resources more than the chain of EDA tools for a 65 nm chip design. (OK, searching for extraterrestrials, maybe, but the economics are a bit different there.) Mar 10, 2008